Tack-supplying apparatus



June 3, 1930. J. F. ALKONIS TACK SUPPLYING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 14, 1928 Patented June 3, 1936- I UNITED! sures amen PA ENT 1 or r'ica JAMES F. ALKONIS, OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR.TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY GORIEORATION, OF PATEBSON, EBSEY, CORPORATION OF NEVV.

JERSEY, v

'rAcK-snPrLYING APPARATUS Application filed January 14,1928. Serial No. 24 ,246.

This invention relates toa device for supplying fastenings and is illustrated herein as embodied in a device arranged to supply tacks one by one in such a manner that they can be conveniently picked up, for example by a magnetized implement, and transferred to the places where they are to be driven.

In the manufacture of shoes tacks; are frequently driven by hand. For example, in

side lasting shoes the Workman commonly maintains a supply of tacks in his mouth, transferring them one by one with his hand to the points where they are to be driven and driving them with a hammer member carried by his lasting pincers. This is both unpleasant and unsanitary but has become common practice by reason of the fact that the workman can work substantially faster than if he picked the tacks one by one from a receptacle byhand.

It is an object'of the present invention to provide a device for supplying fastenings' in such a way that they can be conveniently picked up one by one by the workman (for example, by a magnetized hammer) as quickly andeasily as he can take themfromhis mouth, or more so. With this object in view the illustrated embodiment of the invention comprises a raceway having a separator arranged to permit fastenings'to pass one by one and means, illustrated as a portion of the raceway, to'support each fastening which has been permitted to pass the separator in such a manner that it can be conveniently removed and transferred to the pointwhere it' is to be driven. a I a a In the illustrated embodimentof the i nvention the main portion of the raceway is inclined but it is provided at its lower end with a substantially horizontal portion which receives and supports the tacks one :by one as they are released by the separator. The raceway of the illustrated embodiment of the invention,'moreover, is mounted for limited pivotal movement, means being provided, controlled by rocking of the raceway about its pivot ineidenttothe removal of a tackwhich has passed the.separator, .to operate the separator thereby permitting the passage of an- 59 other tack past the separator. The tacks may picked up by a magnetized hammer which a tack receiving slot 30 and provided with a suitable cover 32' secured to the plates'26, 28. The major port-ion'of the raceway 18 be picked from the substantially horizontal I portion of the raceway by a magnet carried by thelasting pincers and thereby trans ferred to and drivenlightly into the shoe upper and last which is being operated upon after which'the driving may be finished in the usual way. Y i

If the tacks are to be used for an operation other than lasting, they will naturally be is not carriedby lasting pincers.

YVith'the above and other objects and fea-. tures in view the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the claims. 55

In the drawings, i f I I Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a device for supplying fastenings arranged in accordance with the present invention; i

Fig.2 illustrates the manner in which a tack, supplied by said device, may be trans ferred by a magnet carried by lasting pincers to the point where it isto be driven. 1

The fastening-supply device of Fig. 1 is carried by a bracket 10 forming part of or carrying a hopper or tack pot 12 by which fastenings 14 may be supplied in any suitable manner to the upper end 16 of a raceway 18 illustrated as provided at its upper end with a pair of diverging plates 20 directing the tacks to the raceway as they fall from plates 22 carried by a rotating portion 2 20f the hopper 12. Thelraceway 18 is made up of a pair of plates 26, 28' spaced apart to form is inclined as clearly shown in Fig. 1, but

it is provided at its lower end with a substantially horizontal portion 34. The race- Way 18 is pivoted as shown at 36 to the bracket 10,ja stop 38 illustrated asan adjustable screw threaded in a hole formed in a lug 39 carried by the hopper 12 being provided to limit upward movement of the lower end'of the raceway; A leaf spring 40 secured at 42 to the bracket 10 engages the lower surface of the inclined portion of the raceway 18 normally tending to hold the raceway in the'position determined by the stop .38 which, as illustrated, bears against the cover p1ate 32 of the raceway.

Pivoted at 44 to the raceway 18 near its lower end, is a separator 46 provided with a pair of tack engaging fingers 48, 50 spaced from each other'in the direction of the length of the raceway and passin through slots 51 formed in the plates 26, 28 of the raceway adjacent to the lower end of its inclined portion. An outwardly extending arm 52 carried by'the separator 46'is positioned in a slot 54 formed in the end of an arm 56 secured to a stationary part of the machine, as illustrated, to the bracket 10.

The racewa and separator, which shoul be made of nonmagnetic material, for eX ample brass or bronze, are normally maintained in the position shown in Fig. 1, the upper finger 48 of the separator 46 preventing the passage of tacks, beyond the separator. A tack, however, is normally supported by the horizontal portion 34 of the raceway, as shown at 62 in Fig. 1, in position to be lifted therefrom, as by a magnet carried by a-pair of lasting pincers 60. As the magnet 58 is moved by the operator intocontact with the head of this tack, the raceway 18 is depressed against the action of the spring 40, the separator 46 thus being caused to rock about its pivot 44 by reason of the fact that its arm 52 is restrained from substantial bodily movement by the stationary arm 56. This causes the finger 48 to move to the right, as shown in Fig. 1, the tacks in the raceway 18 passing downwardly until the endmost tack is restrained by the finger 5O of'the separator 46 which at thattime lies across the passage of the raceway. /Vhen the lasting pin cers are removed, the spring 40 lifts the raceway to the position determined by the stop 38, the separator 46 returning to the position shown in Fig. 1. As the separator 46 returns to its normal position, its finger 48 passes between the endmost tack and the second tack in the raceway 18, the endmost tack descending to the substantially horizontal portion of the raceway as soon as the finger 50 of the separator 46 passes to the left beyond the tack slot 30 of the raceway.

If tlieoperation being performed is not lasting, the hammer by which the tacks are picked from the raceway will not ordinarily be carried by lasting pincers.

The tack carried from the raceway by the magnet 58 of the lasting pincers may be driven thereby lightly into the work after which it may be additionally driven by the hammer member-63 with which the lasting pincers are also provided.

It will be seen that in the operation of the illustrated machine the passage of the tacks one by one to the substantially horizontal porion of the raceway is controlled by act incident to the removal from-the raceway of the preceding tack carried by the substantially horizontal portion. It should be understood, however,that in various of its aspects the invention is not limited to embodi ment in a machine in which the separator is operated by displacement of the raceway since obviously it might. be rocked otherwise without departing from the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what i claim as new and desire to secure, by Letters Patent of the United States is 1, A device for supplying fastenings comprising a raceway, a separator arranged to control the fastenings in the raceway and to permit them to'pass one by one, means for supporting each fastening which has been permitted to pass the separator in such a'manner that it can be conveniently lifted fromthe raceway and transferred to the point where lb is to be driven, and means for causing the removal of a tack to operate the separator, thereby to feed another tack to the-tack supporting means.

2. A device for supplying; fastenings comprising a raceway, a separator. arranged to control the fastenings in the raceway and to permit them to pass oneby oneto a portion of the raceway from whichthey can conveniently be lifted, and meanscontr'olled' by an act incident to the lifting of a fastening which has passed the separator to operate the separator thereby permitting the passage of another fastening.

3. A device for-supplying fastenings comprising a raceway, a: separator having two fingers pivotally mounted on a single pivot adjacent to the lower end'of the'raceway and arranged to control thepassage of fastenings therefrom, and means controlled by an actincident to the lifting from the raceway of a fastening which has passed the separator to operate the separator, said means being arranged to rock the'two fingers of the separator about said'pivot and thereby to cause another fastening topass the separator;

4. A device for supplying fastenings comprising a raceway, a separator havingv two rigidly connected fingers mounted on a bodily displaceable pivot adjacent to the lower end of the raceway, an outwardly extending arm connected to the separator, and means for restraining the outer end of said arm against substantial bodily movement whereby bodily displacement of the pivot causes the rigidly connected separator fingers to be rocked about their pivot thereby separatin'g'a faste ing from the supply in the raceway.

5. A device for supplying fastenings comprising a raceway provided with an inclined portion terminating in a substantially horizontal portion, a separator pivoted adjacent to the lower end of the inclined portion and arranged to permit the passage of fastenings one by one from the inclined portion to the substantially horizontal portion, and means rendered operative by an act incident to the removal of a fastening from the substantially horizontal portion of the raceway by a magnetized hand hammer to cause the separator to permit the passage of a fastening a from the inclined portion to the substantially horizontal portion of the raceway.

6. A device for supplying fastenings com prising a raceway having an inclined portion terminating in a substantially horizontal portion of non-ma netic material from which fastenings may e picked one by one by a magnetized hand implement, a separator arranged to control the passage of fastenings from the inclined portion to the substantially horizontal portion of the raceway, and means operative to cause the separator to permit the passage of a fastening from the inclined portion to the substantially horizontal portion of the raceway, said means being rendered operative by an act incident to the removal of the preceding fastening from the substantially horizontal portion of the raceway-by a magnetized implement.

7. A device for supplying fastenings comprising a pivotally mounted raceway provided with an inclined portion terminating in a substantially horizontal portion, a separator adjacent to the lower end of the inclined portion and arranged to permit the passage of fastenings one by one from the inclined portion to the substantially horizontal port-ion of the raceway, and means rendered operative by rocking of the raceway about its pivot to cause the separator to permit the passage of a fastening from the inclined portion x tially horizontal portion of the raceway, and

means rendered operative by displacement of the raceway incident to the removal of'oa fastening from the substantially horizontal portion of the raceway by amagnetizedimplement to cause the separator'to permit the passage of another fastening from the inclined to the substantially.horizontal portion of the raceway. o

9. A device for supplying fastenings comseparator arranged to permit the passage of a fastening as the raceway is displaced and re turned by said spring to its normalposition. In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

JAMES F. ALKONIS.

prising a pivotally mounted inclined 'racev way, a hopper arranged to supply fastenings to the raceway, a stop arranged to limit upward movement of the lower end of the raceway, a spring tending to hold the raceway in the position determined by said stop, and a 

